Stephen Curry is ready to tell his story. On Thursday, the 35-year-old four-time NBA champion premiered his new documentary, “Stephen Curry: Underrated,” during the opening night of the 2023 SFFILM Festival at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland, CA. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Peter Nicks and produced by Ryan Coogler, Erick Peyton, and Sean Havey, the film spotlights Curry’s rise from college hopeful to NBA superstar through illuminating footage of his years at Davidson College and his 2021-22 season with the Golden State Warriors.
While Curry himself wasn’t in attendance (he got called in for practice ahead of this weekend’s NBA Playoffs), he made sure to record a special message for attendees. “I am so sorry that I couldn’t be there with you in person, but as you can see, I’m here in our practice facility getting ready for our playoffs,” Curry said in the clip, which played at the documentary’s screening. “I hope that you enjoy this film about our journey, where it all started, and I’m so grateful to Pete Nicks, Ryan Coogler, Erick Peyton, A24, Apple, and my Unanimous family for making it happen.”
And for those who weren’t able to attend the film festival, Curry had some good news to share: “I’m also excited to announce for the very first time that ‘Stephen Curry: Underrated’ will release exclusively on Apple TV+ on July 21, so mark your calendars.”
Speaking to POPSUGAR, Nicks and Peyton say now is the perfect time to tell Curry’s story because it simply hasn’t been done before. “I’ve known SC for a while now, and when we sat down to talk about projects, this was one that was the first version of his origin story that he really wanted to tell,” Peyton explains. “As a producer, those are the stories we’re looking for. It’s a human story that could relate to everybody and we felt like it could even be one that could inspire.”
“There’s a lot of bad news in our social media feeds, all around us, and we need to be reminded of what is possible and he represents that in so many different ways.”
Nicks adds: “I immediately knew that he had something to say that hadn’t been said and that audiences, fans of the Warriors, and Steph didn’t know, so that gave me the confidence to use that as a through line to connect it to what he’s trying to do today, which is win another NBA championship.”
In addition to chronicling Curry’s path to superstardom, the documentary also highlights his inspiring journey to graduating college 13 years after leaving for the NBA, sprinkled in with some lighthearted family moments featuring his wife, Ayesha Curry, and three kids, Riley, 10, Ryan, 7, and Canon, 4. Coogler says that when the project was first presented to him by Curry and Peyton’s Unanimous Media company, nobody had any idea that they’d also be documenting Curry breaking the NBA 3-point record back in December 2021. “I think we made something really special,” Coogler says.
Still, what surprised Coogler most from working on the film was witnessing Curry’s close relationship with his college basketball coach, Coach Bob McKillop, and seeing how it molded him not only into the athlete but the person he is today. Coogler explains, “I knew he was close with his father, close with his mom, I knew he had a lot of success with Steve Kerr, but knowing about this other factor in his life and just how close this relationship was, I thought it was just fantastic.”
Related: Stephen Curry Set to Star in an Upcoming NBC Mockumentary Comedy
Even if you’re not a fan of basketball (or Curry, for that matter), “Stephen Curry: Underrated” is a remarkable story that shows the power of overcoming adversity and teaches us that the impossible is possible with hard work and dedication. “[Being] underrated doesn’t necessarily mean that your journey is given. Stephen was really underrated throughout his whole journey, but he used that underrated theme to overcome a lot,” Peyton says.
Nicks adds, “There’s a lot of bad news in our social media feeds, all around us, and we need to be reminded of what is possible and he represents that in so many different ways, not just his athletic achievements but because of the story of his family, the community of Davidson, and the community of Oakland.”
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